


No matter where you go or how far you roam, know that you are not alone

by booksandreadingismylife



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Justice League - All Media Types, Teen Titans - All Media Types, Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Alfred Pennyworth is a Saint, Alfred loves the Batfam, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Ambiguous/implied relationships, Batfamily (DCU), Batfamily Dynamics (DCU), Bruce Wayne loves his children, Bruce is very exasperated by his family, But they are happy anyway, But this is the one that the Batfam live in and they're perfectly happy with that, Cassandra Cain has a terrible childhood, Damian Wayne had a shitty childhood, Gen, He Tries too, He basically raised them all, I have mentioned this but it bears repeating, League of Assassins is terrible, Sort Of, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates change nothing in the end, Steph loves Tim but good God is he a pain, Stephanie Brown Appreciation, Stephanie Brown does not care for other people's bullshit, Stephanie Brown makes her own path, Talia al Ghul is trying, There are other happier universes, This is not the happy ever after universe, Tim Drake doesn't need his soulmates (but he is happy that Cass is one), actually scratch that they all have awful childhoods, and also his soulmates, and it's only sort of mentioned, and she loves her son, and should come with its own warning, even if he's bad at showing it, he too had a terrible time, he's just bad at showing his feelings okay, lots of what-ifs, mentioned Birds of Prey team, reference to the Outlaws (sort of)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:20:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22240948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/booksandreadingismylife/pseuds/booksandreadingismylife
Summary: When people have marks that point them in the direction of the people who will be the most important to them, surely love and friendship is easy?Some people have first words, others have representative symbols. Others still are lucky enough to have a name.Do such things really change a relationship at heart?Brothers, sisters, fighters, vigilantes, shadows in the night. Batman and his allies have their fair share of soulmarks. Does this change anything?
Relationships: Alfred Pennyworth & Martha Wayne & Thomas Wayne, Barbara Gordon & Dick Grayson, Bat Family & Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne & His Children, Cassandra Cain & Tim Drake, Clark Kent & Bruce Wayne, Damian Wayne & Colin Wilkes, Diana (Wonder Woman) & Bruce Wayne, Diana (Wonder Woman) & Clark Kent & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Wally West, Roy Harper & Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown & Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown & Jason Todd, Talia al Ghul & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Jason Todd, implied Alfred Pennyworth/Martha Wayne/Thomas Wayne, implied Talia al Ghul/Bruce Wayne
Comments: 22
Kudos: 205





	No matter where you go or how far you roam, know that you are not alone

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Words on my skin, love in my heart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1759835) by [amusewithaview](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amusewithaview/pseuds/amusewithaview). 



> So, basically this is based on amusewithaview’s idea (she writes really fantastic soulmate aus) with a few alterations. Soulmarks are not necessarily first words. They could be important or relationship defining words, a shared motto, a goal the soulmate has, the most important thing in their life, their priority above all else, their thoughts on you, the lucky few even get names. And this is if they are even words. Symbols are just as, if not more, common. It could be something representative of the person, something that you associate with them, or even something that has meaning for them. Some soulmarks change, they move around or are animated, they change as the person does. Some people get the lines that their soulmate draws on their skin. Some unlucky soulmates share injuries, and whether the ones that can sense each others emotions are lucky or not is a question for them. Not everyone even shares the same type of soulmark with their soulmate, which can lead to misunderstandings if say one of the pair has the first words of their soulmate in the form of them saying a name and their soulmate has what they think of them.
> 
> There are lots of different beliefs about soulmarks. Some believe that marks are either platonic or romantic and you must discover which are which. Others are certain that they symbolise great friendship. Those closest to the truth are those that believe the marks indicate a person who has a great impact on your life, such that you would never be the same afterwards or otherwise.
> 
> **Please note, I have not read any comics, my knowledge comes from a mixture of the JLU cartoon, the Teen Titans and Young Justice cartoons, the fandom here and on tumblr, and what I can find with a quick google search.**
> 
> I haven't included Duke Thomas, because I don't feel I know enough about him to do him justice or to grasp his relationships properly.

Dick Grayson is born lucky. He comes into the world screaming and full of life. He is born with a Lichtenburg figure stretching from his right shoulder across to his heart, a little bird in bright colours flitting across his skin every which way, and the name _Barbara Gordon_ wrapped around his left wrist. His mother calls him Robin, for the burst of colour that angrily hops across the Lichtenburg figure and sometimes nestles snugly upon the letters wrapped around his wrist, but most often prefers to perch behind his ear, or on top of his heart.

(Perhaps in a different world she calls him _Spark_ or _Storm_ and things are different, and he doesn’t choose to fly like the bird she named him for, makes a different legacy for himself, but that is not this world, that is not this story, in this one he is a bird and swoops through the sky, laughing at his enemies, and that shapes everything that follows)

**. . .**

Barbara Gordon comes into the world silently but fighting. Her first breath is a struggle, her second is not. She is born with a bird of prey at the back of her neck, and the name _Dick Grayson_ wrapped around her left wrist in brightest blue. Her father worries for her, and what her soulmarks mean for her future. He worries more when her mother leaves. When she’s not quite ten she meets a quiet boy with sad eyes and the name _Barbara Gordon_ written in neon green around his wrist. She never does quite figure out who the bird on the back of her neck symbolises, but she names her team after it anyway, maybe they will hear of them and _know_ , but if they don’t, it doesn’t really matter. She knows who she is and what she can do. She doesn’t need anything more.

(Maybe there is a world where she hopes that her soulmate will find their way to her through this, but this is not a story about what ifs and maybes, this is a story about what _is_ and what happened and how she survives and thrives against all odds)

**. . .**

Jason Todd is not one of the lucky ones. The midwife gasps when she sees his marks, and his mother sighs and takes this as a sign for what kind of child he will be. His soulmarks are the words “ _Fuck you, asshole_ ” scrawled on his chest, a bright red handprint around his wrist from where someone seems to have grabbed him, and a stylized arrow (also in red) halfway up his thigh. The last one is at least easy to identify once he meets Roy Harper and they bond over asshole father figures who don’t care about them (they’re both lying to themselves but neither of them care, it’s nice to have someone who gets it).

(Maybe in another world he admits that the first time he’d met his Replacement, the boy had grabbed onto his wrist in the exact same place as his mark, and the mark had _burned_ , but in this one he refuses to acknowledge it, this is a story about the things that happen, after all, not a story about could have beens)

**. . .**

Tim Drake is born in blood and fear and pain and is half dead by the time he takes his first breath. Most of his childhood is spent in the silence this leaves in its wake. His parents are happy with his respectable soulmarks, no names, mores the pity, but definitely nothing that could lead to easy misidentification. He has a pair of black ballet shoes on his left shoulder blade. The opposite shoulder has the quote “ _Ego Resuscitabo Infernum_ ” written in a beautiful cursive (when he’s five he manages to translate it and thinks it’s rather creepy but loves the person who left it fiercely anyway) and he has a third soulmark that moves around as it comes and goes. It’s always the life goal or something important to the person that left it (he isn’t even sure if it’s their current goal or the goal they have when they’re at the same age as he is at the time or just a random one that they have in their life) but sadly “ _prove myself_ ” and “ _find my soulmates_ ” aren’t exactly distinctive. Once he’s been a hero for a while, he notices that the writing occasionally reads “ _protect Tim_ ” which means it’s at least someone he knows, not that that narrows it down.

(Perhaps in a different world he asks around and investigates to find out who it is, perhaps he loves them and they love him, in this one he does not, it’s not important who they are, just that they exist, and that they fight in the same way he does, this story is not a story of happily ever afters and ideal worlds, it is a story of fighting and bleeding and _dying_ for what you believe in)

**. . .**

Cassandra Cain is born to the same silence she lives in. She does not understand what the markings on her body mean. None of them are the unfamiliar shapes that she eventually learns are letters, but they may as well be for all she understands what they mean. The small, comforting bird in red, that sometimes warms when she’s feeling down is at least a shape she recognises. The purple lines that occasionally make pretty patterns on her skin are confusing at best, but she learns early not to show them to anyone. The line of yellow spots with lines coming out of them, that line her collarbone and change pattern, seemingly at random, make even less sense, until she learns about _music_ and _song_ , and then she greedily devours all the information she can find to see what the ever changing notes mean. The first time she sees Steph doodling on herself, only for the same shapes to form on her own skin, is the first time she truly _understands,_ beyond what people have tried to tell her or explain about what a soulmate means, she _understands_ what it means to not be alone.

(There is a world where the musical notes on her skin form a lullaby that would have lulled her to sleep as a child, that is not this world, not this story, in this story, the notes on her skin sing a cry to battle and a song of war and Cass is perfectly content with that)

**. . .**

Stephanie Brown is not born quietly, and her first moments mark the way she will live. She is not quiet, she is not obedient, she will not bow and her soulmarks reflect that. There are certain misconceptions she has about her two soulmates for the longest time. She takes the yellow outline of a bat (across her chest – go figure) to mean the _actual Batman_ until she meets the guy and decides that he’s an asshole. She is very relieved when she meets Cass properly, a few months later and realises that the bat symbolised _her_ insignia, both as Black Bat and Batgirl (she may or may not start screaming from excitement). She is fully convinced that the red book hovering somewhere near her kidneys means Tim. He’s a nerd, his colour’s red. Makes sense. Then Jason Todd tries to throw her off a roof and she learns that he’s a giant nerd and practically the only person to use the Wayne Manor Library for its intended purpose. She is _not_ happy (the criminals run away from her a lot that week). She’ll never admit it but she’s slightly relieved that she’s not Tim’s soulmate – she’s seen his soulmarks and she’d never really felt that any of them were her – figuring out they’re not matches solved an identity crisis that she didn’t need.

(In a different world they are perfect and happy and not broken, this trio with deaths and scars and stolen childhoods, but we are not talking about ideal worlds, we are talking about _this_ world, where Jason died and Steph may as well have and Cass struggles with her own silence, but they _survive_ and they are happy anyway because _fuck you_ for thinking that their traumas are all they are)

**. . .**

Damian Al Ghul Wayne is born a prince and an heir to two empires. He is taught from birth that he doesn’t need his soulmates. It is already a weakness that he has more than the one of his mother and grandfather. He is told that they are weapons to be used against him and that when he is old enough, he will kill them and erase their marks from his body. His mother doesn’t realise that her sleeve sometimes slips, and he can read the words “ _my children_ ” written in neat calligraphy down her arm and he doesn’t tell her. He continues to express the beliefs he is taught and doesn’t tell anyone how much he cherishes his marks. The words “ _I’ll keep all this a secret_ ”, wrapped around his ankle steady him when he needs it. There is a constant reassurance to the flowers that bloom randomly on his skin when the person that leaves them injures themselves (bribing a lower level league member teaches him that the more flowers and the more dense they are, the worse the injury, the little blooms he gets on his knees, his knuckles, his elbows, signify the kinds of cuts and bruises that all normal children have). Most of all, the stylised blue bird that rests over his heart and occasionally pulses in time with his heartbeat comforts him (and if somehow it only ever pulses when he needs to know he’s not alone, well he’s sure that’s normal). He’ll never admit it, but the first time he met Nightwing, he didn’t need an introduction, he knew he was home.

(A different world doesn’t really change much for Damian, save perhaps his upbringing, his parents are the same, but he grows up with his father not his mother, knows who one of his soulmates is practically from birth and no, this does change him, but this is not that world, and in this one he struggles and fights and nearly loses before he learns that his brother will always catch him if he falls)

**. . .**

Bruce Wayne was born with two names twining around each other over his heart in red and blue and the word “ _nuisance_ ” sweeping down his arm. As he grows, the names over his heart change and so does the word on his arm. _Clark_ becomes _Kal-El_ becomes _Alien_ and _Monster_ in quick succession and eventually settles back on _Clark_ (he won’t admit that this helped him figure out that Clark Kent was Superman – that would be telling). _Diana_ never leaves but becomes _Diana of Themyscira_ and _Diana Prince_ and _Diana, Daughter of Hippolyta_ and cycles through variations for months before briefly becoming _Daughter of Zeus_ and _Wonder Woman_ , then it too, settles back to the original _Diana_ , and he’s both relieved and irritated (it’s not enough he has _one_ superhero as a soulmate, he has to have _two_ ). “ _Nuisance_ ” becomes “ _problem_ ” then “ _soulmate_ ” then “ _curious_ ” then “ _interesting_ ” then “ _problem_ ” again. It isn’t until his relationship with Talia has been and gone that he notices that the word has changed to “ _beloved_ ” and he _knows_. He’ll never admit that it hurts that his soulmate rejected him so utterly until she turns up with a child he didn’t know existed and it isn’t until she begs him to protect him that he starts to grasp that there is so much more to her than he’s ever realised and by then it’s too late for them both.

(In a better world, she left her father for him, and they raised their child together, no in a perfect world there was never a need for Batman at all, and they lived and they loved and Bruce still had his children but none of them were scarred by horror and loss and none of them knew the intimate feeling of a blade beneath their skin, but this world is not perfect, it simply _is_ and this story has no happy ending)

**. . .**

Alfred has the words “ _I am so sorry; I didn’t get your name_ ” written in perfect pitch-black calligraphy up one arm and “ _Mr Pennyworth?_ ” scrawled in pure white down the other. It takes him a while to realise who the culprits are, and by then he’s so deeply entangled in their business that he’s not sure he _wants_ to get out. He’s fairly certain that the two of them drew him in this way on purpose but he has no proof and he’s not about to go around accusing people without it. When he follows them back to the United States, he finds he doesn’t regret his decision. Not even when his arms scar far too soon, and he’s left with two dead soulmates and their orphaned son to raise. Several decades later, surrounded by grandchildren in all but name, he still goes to the graves every morning to tell them about what ridiculous things their beautiful, stubborn, impossible family have done recently.

(In an ideal world, Thomas and Martha Wayne never die in that alleyway and Alfred grows old _with_ his soulmates, but there can never be an ideal world where they live, their deaths are too vital, so maybe a world where their deaths don’t scar their son so badly, but that is not this world, in this world they die and their deaths mean everything and their soulmate just keeps calm and carries on)

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the complete list of who has what soulmarks where and who they indicate. I've also included what the other person has for them just because
> 
>  **Dick:**  
>  Lichtenburg figure on his chest – Wally West (soulmark for Dick: black bird shape on his spine)  
> Moving bird in bright colours – Damian Wayne (soulmark for Dick: stylised blue bird over his heart akin to Nightwing symbol)  
>  _Barbara Gordon_ around his wrist in green – Barbara Gordon (soulmark for Dick: _Dick Grayson_ in bright blue around her wrist)
> 
>  **Barbara:**  
>  Bird of prey on the back of her neck – Unknown/not specified (up to you - I personally like Helena Bertinelli)(soulmark for Barbara: purple eye on their stomach)  
>  _Dick Grayson_ around her wrist in blue – Dick Grayson (soulmark for Barbara: _Barbara Gordon_ in neon green around his wrist)
> 
>  **Jason:**  
>  _Fuck you, asshole_ scrawled on his chest in purple – Stephanie Brown (soulmark for Jason: red book in kidney area)  
> Bright red handprint around his right wrist – Tim Drake (soulmark for Jason: _Ego Resuscitabo Infernum_ in dark grey cursive on his right shoulder)  
> Stylized red arrow halfway up his left thigh – Roy Harper (soulmark for Jason: what Jason thinks of him at the time, moves with each change, when they meet it’s: _Fucking unnecessary for fuck’s sake_ )
> 
>  **Tim:**  
>  A pair of black ballet shoes on his left shoulder blade – Cassandra Cain (soulmark for Tim: small bird in red that sits in her left palm)  
>  _Ego Resuscitabo Infernum_ in dark grey cursive on his right shoulder – Jason Todd (soulmark for Tim: red handprint around his right wrist)  
> Current goal of his soulmate, moves every time it changes – Unknown/not specified (up to you - I personally like Cassie Sandsmark) (soulmark for Tim: the words _be prepared for anything_ in yellow block capitals on her bottom left rib)
> 
>  **Cass:**  
>  Small red bird on her left palm – Tim Drake (soulmark for Cass: pair of black ballet shoes on left shoulder blade)  
> Purple lines that are marks drawn on her soulmates skin – Stephanie Brown (soulmark for Cass: yellow bat outline (Batgirl/Black Bat’s symbol) across her chest)  
> Line of yellow music notes that form a tune – Unknown/not specified (up to you - I personally think it's Dinah Lance) (soulmark for Cass: moving bat in varying dark colours (most often black))
> 
>  **Steph:**  
>  Yellow outline of bat on her chest – Cassandra Cain (soulmark for Steph: purple lines of anything drawn on Steph’s skin)  
> Red book near her kidneys – Jason Todd (soulmark for Steph: _Fuck you, asshole_ in scrawled purple on his chest)
> 
>  **Damian:**  
>  _I’ll keep all this a secret_ , wrapped around his right ankle in white – Colin Wilkes (soulmark for Damian: _Robin_ in dark green on the inside of his left bicep)  
> Stylised blue bird over his heart akin to Nightwing symbol – Dick Grayson (soulmark for Damian: moving bird in bright colours)  
> Flowers of varying types that bloom where his soulmate is injured – Unknown/not specified (up to you, I honestly have no ideas) (soulmark for Damian: outline of a sword down their right ring finger in yellow and outlined in red)
> 
>  **Bruce:**  
>  How they think of him in Gotham green print sweeping down his left arm – Talia Al Ghul (soulmark for Bruce: his greatest priority in black fading to white calligraphy sweeping down her left arm)  
> How they think of themselves in blue over his heart – Clark Kent (soulmark for Bruce: _It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me_ in yellow on his back over his heart)  
> How they think of themselves in red over his heart – Diana Prince (soulmark for Bruce: _Why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick ourselves back up_ in light blue around her right forearm where her bracer sits)
> 
>  **Alfred:**  
>  _I am so sorry; I didn’t get your name_ written in pitch-black calligraphy up his right arm – Thomas Wayne (soulmark for Alfred: black bowtie underneath his collarbone)  
>  _Mr Pennyworth?_ scrawled in pure white down his left arm – Martha Kane-Wayne (soulmark for Alfred: _Let me_ in grey on her left ankle)
> 
> I may write a follow up to this at some point, but for now its finished.  
> If you have any questions, want to talk about my headcanons, or just want to chat, come and scream at me on [tumblr](https://booksandreadingismylife.tumblr.com/).


End file.
